Good day,
I want to thank you for the opportunity to be Fly Fishing Forums resident Entomologist, ie, "The Bug Doctor". I will, with an earnest heart and mind, try to lend insight and education to our readership with articles, studys, and interaction. My relationship to this comes from my deep love of Nature and Fly Fishing. I have studied the likes of Theakston, Walton, Aubry-Orvis, Smith, Bhenke and others to further understand the relationship between fish and fly, as well as Thoreau and Muir to help understand the beautiful complexities of Natural law. Not to mention the 5 cats that spend there nights hanging around street lights and leaving little subjects by the back slider for me to use in my studys.
Entomology comes from the Greek "entomon" or insect. It is a branch of Zoology, of the Phylum Arthropoda, or "more at foot". These are invertebrate animals that have jointed bodys, Usually 6 legs, a chitinous shell, and usually 1 or 2 pairs of wings. (See what happens when I get started.)
P.M. Flyfisher suggested that I take a sampling of ideas for the first "BUG" to be featured, and so it will be! Please let me know your favorite. I looked in on Cohocola's "Hatch" thread, and wrote down the subjects there, so were off to the races!
Again, thank you, I look forward to your interaction, both pro and con, on all subjects pertaining to the "creepy, crawly, fly in your mouth/eyes/nose, crawl across your a** in your sleeping bag at 2 am, girlfriend screamin, flyrod dancin, fish lip snappin, slap you up side the head while there matein, bug brothers!" As Harry would say, "This Fly Fishin thing, you gota love it!"
Deerhawk "The Doc"
He's got the cure for what ail's 'ya...

cohocola

01-12-2003, 01:51 AM

My favorite all time mayfly is the Michigan Caddis (Hexagenia limbata), the local name for them is "Canadian soldiers".
I remember the first time I was in the HEX HATCH, they were everywhere, in the trillions....:eyecrazy:

One of them landed on my glasses while I was wearing them(which magnafied it greatly), It looked like there was a giant mayfly on my face... :eek:

I also like the Isonychia bicolor because it looks like it's wearing socks.:hehe:

Thanks for being the BUG DOCTOR

BobK

01-12-2003, 07:23 AM

In the winter and spring, the Lake Ontario tribs have some nice runs of steelies. My favorite fly for them is a beadhead flashback hare's ear, and they seem to want specifically size 14s. I have never seen any adult beadhead flashback hare's ears hatching, and was wondering what happened when they grow up?

My favorite late spring and early summer hatch is the Adams hatch. These hatches never seem to be large, but I am the only guy fishing with that pattern, and the only guy catching fish. So they must be hatching very sporadically.

What is the "straight scoop?"

BobK:hehe:

FlyFishAR

01-12-2003, 11:26 AM

Wooo hooo!!!!! Off to the races........ :smokin:

John

cohocola

01-12-2003, 11:33 AM

Still waiting to see a ROYAL COACHMAN hatch, I keep missing it every year. :hehe:
Can you just imagine being on the stream with billions of HUMPY YELLOWS in the air... :chuckle:

juro

01-12-2003, 11:41 AM

Deerhawk - you can cover just about any bug and it will help me.

For steelhead:

Giant October Caddis has been the most influential insect to me in greaseline steelheading in the fall. Another is the pternarcus (sp?) giant stonefly.

For trout:

I know very little about mayflies except trout love them, and for trout the most common fly I use on the east coast is the early black gnat which starts hatching very early (Feb-Mar) when I am prone to go trout fishing.

I really look forward to having this resource on the forum - thanks for volunteering!

And for some of you guys... a globug is not an insect :hehe:

pmflyfisher

01-12-2003, 11:46 AM

Well how about starting with

Ephemerellidae (may flies) that is probably common to all NA waters, not sure about Europe though. It does not really matter to me I need work in all areas.

Heres a question for you I learned at yesterdays fly fishing show from a famous GLs fly fishing guide.

Up to how many times does a Hexigenia limbata may fly nymph change burrowing holes in the mud bottoms of streams they frequent before emerging ?

Smolt please don't answer, Charles was with me yesterday at this session.

I am sure Lipripper and MJYP will be all over this one.

PM Out

DEERHAAWK

01-12-2003, 03:05 PM

I opened my window, and what did I see?
PATIENTS! (NOW DONT CROWD AROUND, just take 2 caddis flys and spend 3 hours on the river, twice weekly, and call me if there's no improvement....
back later
Deerhawk

BobK

01-12-2003, 04:46 PM

Now that I had a chance to add a little humor (hopefully you took it that way), I would like to thank you for accepting. I'm sure that not only will it give you lots to do, but that you will be "coerced" into having to have to do some hard work - and it will be a highly beneficial learning experience for you.

Just as long as it doesn't cut into your fishing time, I hope you really enjoy it. Just a pointer for some good info - American Angler has, in the past, had some very good articles on entomology.

Best wishes -

BobK

pmflyfisher

01-13-2003, 10:23 AM

No one has answered my Hex nymph question yet I see.

:chuckle:

PM Out

DEERHAAWK

01-13-2003, 12:54 PM

Good day,
The nymph will not burrow, unless it finds the bottom structure sufficiently "compacted" to allow the burrow to stay open. Therefore I am going to say, as many times as he damn well feel's nessasary untill he gets the results of the compaction reports back, barring any structural issues, local codes, variances, etc...
Then there is always the DFW, weither the burrow falls in a "Historical" zone, and questions regarding shoring during the construction of said "Burrow". Has this nymph pulled permits yet?
I...I have to do some more research on this one, there's a whole gamit of safty issues here. Has this Nymph called Locators yet? You know there could be Gas and Electrical lines under this spot.
Listen, tell Mr. Nymph not to proceed untill we work out the details
Ill get back to you...:tsk_tsk:
(It's always something)
:chuckle:
Deerhawk

pmflyfisher

01-13-2003, 01:10 PM

fyi

Up to 12 times they may change burrows before emerging per Matt Supinski. I did not find this fact in several of fly emtomology books. So when our GLs steelhead see your hex nymph moving across their path, they remember from their smolt days of eating same nymph.

PM Out

willmullis

01-13-2003, 02:36 PM

Hey congrats on becoming the bug doctor !!! From what I've seen you defiently know your stuff. Look forward to this because I have a lot of stuff to learn.

juro

01-13-2003, 02:58 PM

Just wanted to clarify that Deerhawk's new role is to facilitate good information to be shared, not necessarily to have to know it all himself per se. Much of the information will come from members and other sources. It just so happens that he is very knowledgable and that helps when you are the editor of the new site section dedicated to entomology... but certainly not required.

Stay tuned while we build this new section....

FlyFishAR

01-13-2003, 03:35 PM

Well I guess I am a confirmed fly fishing "nerd" because I find myself giddy with the prospect of the future posts. :hehe:

John

DEERHAAWK

01-13-2003, 03:55 PM

Howdy,
P.M., I could not find anything either, refering to "Quantity of Burrows completed", only where " the bottom material is sufficiently compacted for the burrows to remain open". This from Stanley G. Jewett Jr., Fisheries Biologist / U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries.
Can you E-Mail Matt Supinski, and ask him where he got his data? I would like to know the reason why they do this. I wonder if it has to do with the burrow colapsing?

I'm going to try real hard to make this an interesting part of FFF. I have alot of resources at my beck and call, and I'm going to pour over them to try to get the right answer for your questions, but if I don't know, I'm not afraid to say "I don't know, HELP!"
I remain, OUTSIDE the burrow, with my hand counter...click...click..
Deerhawk

Lipripper

01-13-2003, 04:03 PM

"Up to 12 times they may change burrows before emerging per Matt Supinski. I did not find this fact in several of fly emtomology books. So when our GLs steelhead see your hex nymph moving across their path, they remember from their smolt days of eating same nymph."

Hmmm, I would have guessed more than that. So, once a month they change up? Pretty cool little tid-bit. I have done some of my most successful "Hex" fishing with wiggle-hex nymphs in the early mornings of late June. Seems like the fish are just waiting for em to start swimming around.